Illinois Fertilizer Conference Proceedings January 24-26, 1994 Home 1994 Index Search

Professional Strategic Management Training for Retail Fertilizer and Chemical Dealers

Progress Report

Patrick D. O'Rourke¹

Introduction

The products of this project will provide the means for addressing some of the more critical identified management training needs, in a strategic management context, for the managers of the retail fertilizer and chemical businesses of Illinois. These managers are charged with both the long-term financial success of these businesses and the environmentally sound operation of these businesses. These two objectives are essential, interrelated, and at times, require the juggling of competing goals for cost efficient operation and long run financial success.

This project will produce instructional and participant materials for interactive applications oriented strategic management training workshops for the managers of Illinois retail fertilizer and chemical businesses. The agenda for these two to three day workshops (and/or workshops varying in length from two hours to three days) will deal with topics that are identified by industry people as important to the successful long-term strategic management of retail fertilizer and chemical businesses. Topics identified with the advice of industry and agency representatives through the 1993 dealer survey and subsequent focus group meetings will be considered highest priority for this proposed program.

One of the problems facing managers of retail fertilizer and chemical dealerships is ascertaining the training needs as well as the priority to assign to specific training needs for management and other personnel. This problem exists because resources are limited. Training is costly in terms of both the personnel time and money required. The training needs of retail fertilizer and chemical dealership personnel is a concern not only for those personnel, but also for their customers, their financiers, their owners and those involved in educating and training people in the farm supply sector.

The training needs of retail fertilizer and chemical personnel may be categorized in two broad categories: management and worker training. While the topics and the actual training of "management" and "workers" can not be entirely separated, there are some areas of knowledge and skills that are more critical for successful management than for non-management personnel.

Overall Goal

The overall goal of this project is to develop and present (pilot presentation) a two to three day professional management workshop for managers of retail fertilizer and chemical businesses in Illinois. The workshop materials will be developed in a manner such that other instructors can adopt them and lead additional workshops. The workshop are expected to address interrelated management needs in the areas of finance, marketing, and strategic management, as well as environmental/regulatory issues and interpersonal and management skills.

Specific First Year Objectives

The specific first year objectives of this project are:

1. Meet with industry and professional representatives to identify a preliminary listing of the most important management training topics for workshops for retail fertilizer and chemical dealerships. (This relates to the development of the dealership survey instrument.)
   
   
2. Develop tentative training topics and computer model design for instructional modules based on findings of the dealer survey as supported and supplemented with focus group results.
   
   
3. Meet with industry and professional representatives to review and finalize topical content for management training workshops.
   

Materials and Methods

The population used in this study were dealers on the dealer member list of the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association (IFCA) which had 400 Illinois dealer names and addresses at the time this project began. Two methods were used to ascertain the importance and need for training in various areas of knowledge and skills. The first method was to develop² and send questionnaires to the 400 dealer members of the IFCA, the results of which will be described in more detail below. The second method was the use of the focus group meeting format with selected dealers from the IFCA dealer member list. Two such meetings were held in November and December 1993, the results of which will be described in less detail below. The primary reason for the less detailed discussion of focus group results is to avoid biasing the results of additional focus groups to be scheduled in early 1994. The results of these additional focus groups may provide invaluable information on perceived management training needs and on preferred (or most effective) methods of training/instruction.

Questionnaires were mailed to the dealer member list in early summer 1993. This initial mailing was followed with a postcard reminder to non-respondents and a second mailing of the questionnaire to non-respondents in late summer 1993. Usable questionnaires were returned by 159 respondents or approximately 40 percent of the population surveyed.

The descriptive design of the questionnaire allowed respondents to indicate their perception of both the importance of various training topics and their perception of the need for training in those topics. These perceptions were solicited for both "management" training and "worker" training. The management training list included 18 topics developed in consultation with industry professionals and academic experts. The worker training list included 14 topics. In both cases the lists seemed to capture most topics considered important by the respondents. Very few topics were entered by respondents in the "Other" topic lines for either management or worker training.

The first two parts of the questionnaire each contained two six point (5 to 0) numeric scales; one measuring the level of importance of the training topic and the other measuring the level of need for training in the same topic for management training (part one) and worker training (part two). The third part of the questionnaire included questions concerning the respondent and the respondent's firm. The respondent's title and the firm's location, size and type of business organization were solicited. Responses were also solicited concerning the number and type of personnel, annual training expenditures as well as the scope and composition of the firm's sales. The final part of the questionnaire solicited information on the type of computers and software used in the respondent's firm. Their level of satisfaction and perception of benefits for various computer use and computer training activities was also solicited.

Results and Discussion

Dealer Survey

The job titles of the respondents to the dealer survey may provide an indication of the quality of the responses. Ninety-seven percent of the respondents indicated their job title.

The respondents were from at least³ fifty six counties, representing management and/or owners of at least 425 plant sites with at least 2,980 full time personnel and 1,553 seasonal/part time personnel. Among those personnel at least 234 were Certified Crop Advisors, at least 737 were Certified Applicators and at least 937 were Certified Operators. The respondents were diverse with respect to type of business organization, size of business (annual gross revenue) and in the number of products and services offered and the proportion of their business coming from those lines. (See Appendix A for a summary of descriptive data.)

It is this author's opinion that this collection of respondents represents, fairly well, the true population of retail fertilizer and chemical dealers in Illinois. The complete analysis of these survey results, when considered together with the focus group results should result in a much improved understanding of the diverse training needs of Illinois' retail fertilizer
and chemical dealers.

Tables 1 and 2 show a sample of the survey results concerning the perceived needs for management training in 18 topics.⁴ The sample of results contained in Tables 1 and 2 indicate the ranking of the listed areas of knowledge and/or skill in terms of the "need for training for management. . . to successfully manage the retail fertilizer and chemical business. " The statistical analysis of the survey results is not yet complete. However, the raw data does show some important differences in perceived need for management training among "types of firm" and "sizes of firm."

The data reported in Table 1, for example, indicate what appear to be important differences in perceived need for management training by federated cooperatives (FED COOP), proprietorships (PROP) and independent corporations (INDEP CORP) in the skill/knowledge areas for: (1) Managing personnel, (2) Managing safety & compliance programs, (3) Analyzing your market, (4) Customer education and (5) Capital budgeting.

The data reported in Table 2 also indicate what appear to be important differences in perceived need for management training among firms by size (annual sales volume). For example, all firms except those in the "$15 - 25 million" category ranked Customer Relations high and only firms in the "less than $1 million" category gave Customer Education a high ranking. Also, while firms in the size categories between "$5 and $25 million" ranked "Analyzing Your Market" rather high (4th out of 18) all other firms, both larger and smaller, ranked that area much lower.

What these results and the results of the focus group meeting may indicate in the final analysis is that' dealers of different types and sizes may need training in different areas. This may be due in part to the difference in current training available and or used by these firms depending on their affiliations with larger organizations (such as a regional cooperative) and trade associations. The strategic management training program being developed, because it will be developed in modules, may provide the kind of flexibility to offer alternative packages of training to groups of managers with different needs such as those indicated by the data discussed here.

Industry Focus Groups

The focus group approach to soliciting perceptions of specific needs for management training is by its nature more open than the predetermined lists that appear on a survey questionnaire. In each of the first two focus groups with fertilizer dealers and fertilizer industry personnel the participants were encouraged to develop lists of "all and any" area of knowledge or skill for which they felt there was a need for training. The participants were not prepared or coached, rather, they were encouraged to think independently of topics to be considered and all of these topics were listed for all participants to see. Then they were asked to select the most important of the many topics listed for training by placing a symbol on each of the seven to ten most important topics they chose. Following some discussion the participants were then asked to chose the three to five topics from that select list for which management training was most needed or would be most beneficial.

The detailed results of these focus groups will not be available until the planned early 1994 focus groups are completed. However, the following partial listing of some of the management training topics considered most important by the first two focus groups does show how diverse the perceptions of the participants can be. These topics are not listed in order of priority identified by the focus group participants.

FIRST TWO FOCUS GROUPS OF FERTILIZER DEALERS

Summary

The first year of the Professional Strategic Management Training project is progressing on schedule. The dealer survey is providing important information concerning the management training needs of Illinois retail fertilizer and chemical dealers. The survey data concerning the importance and need for training in identified areas of knowledge and skill are currently being analyzed with nonparametric tests based on ranks (Spearman's coefficient of rank correlation test and Kramer's rank sum test). The focus groups, which are still being conducted, are providing important supporting and supplemental information on those needs.

Tables and Figures Referenced

Table 1: Ranking of "Need For Management Training" by Type of Firm

Table 2: Ranking of "Need For Management Training" Size of Business (Annual volume)

Appendix A: Preliminary Summary of Dealer Survey Descriptive Data

Appendix B: Tables 3 and 4

Footnotes and References

¹Associate Professor, Agribusiness Management Program, Department of Agriculture, Illinois State University.

²Assistance in designing and conducting the survey were provided by Kenneth Smiciklas, Assistant Professor Kerry W. Tudor, Assistant Professor and Jeffrey A. Wood, Professor, Department of Agriculture, Illinois State University.

³The term "at least" is used several times in referring to responses where all respondents did not respond to the item.

⁴See Appendix B for similar survey data analysis concerning worker training.

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Department of Crop Sciences University of Illinois Extension College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Association Illinois Department of Agriculture

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